Join the first ICES hackathon

Participants are invited to the data hackathon in Copenhagen this May.

Published:
17 January 2018

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​​The hackathon – otherwise known as the Workshop on INtegration and VIsualisation TEchnology of ICES Data (WKINVITED) – will take place at the ICES Secretariat in Copenhagen 29-30 May 2018.

A hackathon is a fun activity where teams of people collaborate for a short time to share ideas and solve problems. The subject of this hackathon is the visualization and integration of ICES datasets - the aim being to produce open source computer tools, scripts, or applications that can be adopted by the wider ICES community.

The event will take place over two days and is organized under the auspices of the ICES Data and Information Group (DIG) and chaired by David Currie from Ireland and Sjur Ringheim from Norway. Participants will work in teams to develop interesting new tools and then present their work to a DIG panel who will choose the winner.

Topics

The teams will be presented with a number of different topics they can work on, or they can develop their own ideas. Initial topics of interest include: improving the visualization of spatial data in ICES databases (e.g. underwater noise), the scientific history of a statistical rectangle, and text mining of ICES documents (the ICES "mini-Google"). Other topic ideas can be emailed to the co-Chair David Currie, with the subject line "Hackathon Ideas".

Who should attend?

Anyone interested in developing ICES data products is welcome to attend – it is not necessary to be an expert R scripter or C coder. The best teams will likely include people with a range of skills including coding/scripting, visual design, scientific knowledge, and idea generation.

Support and advice on how to access and use the ICES data sources will be available before and during the hackathon. Teams (of a maximum of 4 people) can either be created beforehand, otherwise help will be given match-making teams at the start of the event.

If you are thinking of attending, please email the co-Chair with the subject line "Hackathon". Give a brief (2-3 line) summary of your skills, whether you will be participating as part of a team, and what you would be interested in working on.